Good bye one more time

I’m assuming most of you guys know me, I mean the ones that are reading this blog over the last years, and because of that you know I have been moving from one city to another during my whole life. Over the last 29 years I have been wandering this planet I have moved over 23 times and Shanghai has been the city I have lived the longest without changing home. That could be a reason why I have such a “weird accent” I guess

So by now I thought I got use to say good bye… Oh, How wrong I was (#YouKnowNothing)… The last weeks has been a rollercoaster (and sadly it doesn’t goes up all the time haha) that made me wander what have I learned over all these years and over all those good byes.

First of all, I was used to be the one that move out but not anymore. One of the small problems with Shanghai (at least when you are an expat) is that at its core Shanghai still is a port-city, that people will stay around for a short period of time, sometimes 2 years, some other times less than one and eventually everyone leave.

On the bright side you learn to enjoy the few moments you have, to maximize the ones you can share and you do try not to regret any of the ones you experienced (even if sometimes you do want to forget some moments you had in this city). But is not an easy task, at one point the level amount of goodbye parties, of “last week” in Shanghai dinners, of X or Y events get a toll on everyone… Or at least on me. And that is why I’m writing this, if some of you left or if this time is me the one that is going away.

If I had to say good bye one more time I want to thank you for any experience we had, for whatever I learned from you (good or bad) and if I got a chance to make things better or letting me being a bad influence in your life.

That if at one point I told you that you can count on me is because I will be here (even virtually) and I will try to help, listen or plan revenge if you need that. Saying some many good-byes makes you stop saying cliché phrases and you do mean what you say. If I have to say good-bye one more time I just hope that whatever happen will not change what we had and there will be good memories to keep in mind.

After all these years and all these good byes at least I learned that if you really want it, if it’s a good friendship or connection a simple goodbye will be only a pause and eventually you will be able to un-pause the game again.